Cathedral exhibit comes to Lake County Discovery Museum

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WAUCONDA – Running through Aug. 15, the Charles Warner’s Cathedrals exhibit will be on display at the Lake County Discovery Museum, featuring a collection of four of Warner’s hand-carved, wooden folk-art cathedrals.

They will be complimented by postcards of Old World and New World cathedrals selected by coordinators from the museum.

A fifth cathedral already is on display – and has been since the gallery opened – in the Mall of History.
Warner, a folk artist who immigrated to the United States from Prussia, passed away in 1964. But he left behind a series of detailed cathedrals he had constructed from his childhood memories, with the hope of sharing those memories of Old World architecture with his children and grandchildren, said Diana Dretske, collections coordinator and historian for the Lake County Discovery Museum.

“I think it’s quite interesting to see the different architecture and to see, ‘Oh, this is what inspired the man,’” Dretske said. “We were also excited to select [postcards of] cathedrals in North America, so people could have a way to relate to them ... like Holy Name [Cathedral] in Chicago ... to make those connections to how those traditions from the past were brought to the New World.”

The colorful wooden cathedrals Warner carved, which range from 3 to 5 feet in height, were restored by the museum, said Steve Furnett, exhibitions manager.

If patrons think the outside of the cathedrals show exquisite detail, wait until they see the insides, Furnett said.

“They’re really cool from any artistic standpoint,” Furnett said. “They’re American folk art all the way. The interiors are just as intricately designed. They’re unbelievable.”

The museum has some photographs of the interior design work blown up to coincide with the more than 100 postcards from the museum’s Curt Teich Postcard Archives that will hang on the walls surrounding the cathedrals, Furnett said.

Inside the White Room Gallery, where the exhibit will be housed, Furnett also treated some of the glass on the museum’s doors to look like stained glass.

It makes the exhibit feel even more like the cathedrals of old and new, he said.

“So, when you walk in on a sunny day, it’s a really good mood,” Furnett said.
If you go

What: Charles Warner’s Cathedrals

Where: Lake County Discovery Museum, 27277 N. Forest Preserve Road, located at the corner of Route 176 and Fairfield Road, in Wauconda.

Hours: The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 1 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Through Feb. 21, the museum will open at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday.

Admission: $6 for adults, $2.50 for youth (ages 4 to 17) and free for youth 3 and younger. Admission is $2.50 for seniors after 2 p.m.

Contact: Download a coupon for $1 off admission to the museum at www.LakeCountyDiscoveryMuseum.org. For more information, call 847-968-3400.